Like many of you, Columbia seniors, I'm applying to grad school this fall. Unlike many of you, however, I'm applying to get an MFA in creative writing. This has a couple consequences. First, my suite-mates have been asking for my advice every time they hang a poster or pick a shirt, insisting that they need my "mastery" in fine arts. Second, according to everyone in the MFA-getting business, my main criteria for picking a school to attend are supposed to be location and funding.
I'm not sure how it goes when picking a graduate program in, say, political science, or dentistry, but I suspect the nature of the creative writing MFA makes the process for that program somewhat unique. The logic is something like "you're getting 2-3 years to read and write, after which you will be qualified to do precisely nothing in the professional world, so pay as little a possible and go someplace where you'll be able to spend most of your time in front of a computer screen and still be mildly happy."
I'm thinking Montana. Or Orange County. Or Brooklyn. Or Tallahassee.
